The State of Modern Science Fiction Television Revivals

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today, visit www .sfi .org. Greetings, ladies

and gentlemen, welcome back to Future Imperfect.

I'm your captain, Mike the Birdmanzaw, but I'm

not alone across this intrepid trek across the

stars. I'm joined by my very own XO, Steve Megatron

Phillips, and it feels good to be back here on

Future Imperfect, obviously brought to you by

SFI .org Starfleet, the world's largest Star

Trek online fan club. And speaking of that, you

guys are probably wondering, where the hell have

you guys been? Well, as we stated in our last

show, well, we've been kind of in in kind of

dry dock, kind of looking at the enormity of

the shows that we want to take on. And I kind

of got some some inspiration from watching. I

think it was Trekkies or Trekkies 2, the one

the documentaries that were done by Denise Crosby.

And they come across the two people who had their

own radio show, basically podcasting before it

was podcasting called Talking Trek. And I realized

We don't necessarily have to stick to talking

about Star Trek all the time, which is kind of

an advantage. I mean, as long as we can tie it

in the Star Trek somehow some way, this this

might give us a little more kind of leeway because,

well, me and Steve, Steve just had a kid a little

while ago. Yes. Congratulations on that. Thank

you. And that means a lot of our time is very

busy. I mean, I myself, by the time the show

comes out, which should be Tuesday, February

4th. 5th, whatever. I'm actually going to be

on a television set in the next couple of weeks

and I'm planning shoots and have some stuff in

my professional life to take care of, so I'm

really busy. But that doesn't mean we're not

going to stop talking Star Trek. No, no, no,

no. Because originally we wanted to watch Star

Trek The Animated Series, which is a cartoon

that ran, I think in the what, 70s, Steve, wasn't

it? Yes, yeah, and we kind of decided with the

big news that happened a couple of weeks ago

obviously with Star Trek Star Trek and the darkness

director JJ Abrams Getting his hands on Star

Wars 7 That this kind of opens up a whole new

can of worms for us to talk about so in honor

of today's episode We're not gonna have any L

cars segment. We're just gonna have a very free

flowing discussion Which we very much invite

you guys to be a part of you can reach us at

feedback at this we can geek net Subject line

future imperfect or our voicemail line of eight

one seven seven one seven seventy two oh two

and we're gonna talk about basically I mean,

sci -fi franchises that maybe need a reboot or

a relift to them, kind of like how Abrams is

likely going to do something quite spectacular

with Star Trek, I mean, like he already has done,

and what is he going to do with Star Wars? There's

a few other properties that I want to talk about

too that have not necessarily gotten the love

and respect I think they need These days so I

guess Steve. Where do we want to start this discussion?

Um, I guess we'll start out with Kind of an overview

of Some of the well for one flip -flapping of

Abrams over doing Star Wars and kind of jumping

between Star Trek and Star Wars and then from

there I think we should head over to some of

the other sci -fi or lost sci -fi programs of

the 90s and early 2000s. Yeah, because it doesn't

seem like there's a lot of sci -fi on television

right now. I mean, there's a lot of supernatural

type stuff. like uh being human i think ripper

has some stuff in it i think that's what it's

called um and you know supernatural of course

being the really big one fringe just ended and

i would consider that more sci -fi than say supernatural

elements to it so it's just one of these times

where i think sci -fi is kind of going through

a huge change right now and with abram's taking

on two of the largest sci -fi franchises out

there I kind of wonder what's gonna happen Yeah,

especially with him Because he's done many successful

things and many that have flopped between Doing

lost doing the reboot of Star Trek which he Brought

back from the dead if it weren't for this man.

We wouldn't have Trek today Or at least not in

the sense that we know it now And He's had like

Alcatraz and some of these other shows that he's

kind of headlined that have kind of gone by the

wayside So it's kind of a hit or miss on whether

he's going to do this justice or not But I think

why not if you're gonna have somebody that knows

the sci -fi and kind of more of the practical

approaches to it You might as well give a guy

that has an idea about how all that stuff a chance

Yeah, because I find when you give Abram something

really concrete, not necessarily his own stuff.

I mean, because I, for example, wanted Cloverfield

to be awesome. It kind of sucked. And I very

much respected what he did in 2009 with Star

Trek, but I didn't like Alias, which is a show

he also did. He did Lost, too, didn't he? Yes,

he he was yeah Then lost I liked so like you

said it's a lot of hit -and -miss with this guy

super 8 was also a pretty badass So I don't know

someone on Kotaku and you can find this on YouTube

as well Look up JJ Abrams fan cut Star Wars trailer

or something like this And it very much demonstrates

what? the films may look like, because Abrams

has a very distinct style of editing and a very

distinct style of directing. And just the way

that the trailers are cut on YouTube, this fan

really friggin' nailed it. And I gotta say, I'm

excited for the big set pieces of these upcoming

movies that he'll get to do, whether he does

episode eight and nine, who knows. But I just...

I don't know whether Star Wars can be a pure

action movie when you really think about it,

because I mean, episodes, I mean, even the prequels,

there was enough character stuff in there to,

you know, they weren't just something was happening

all the freaking time. Excuse me, I've still

got a flu. And I just... I don't know. If we

got what he did with, say, Star Trek as opposed

to, say, something like Super 8, I might be more

okay with it. Just I want to know when his movies

are going to be set. And that's something that

I worry about because in Star Wars there's the

established expanded universe and Lucas has signed

off on a vast majority of it. If he follows the

continuity of the books, the first story to be

told happens like 20 minutes after Return of

the Jedi, and it's called The Truce at Bakura,

if I'm not mistaken. And basically it involves

these alien creatures who find a way to trap

a person's consciousness instead of a droid via

a process called entecment, and it's stupid and

the book is so hard to get through. Or does he

go in to the new Jedi Order, which Luke is older

along with everybody else, and the Jedi are coming

back. There's the Imperial Remnant, but there's

also things like the Yuuzhan Vong. Or are these

alien creatures who want to destroy all life

or something like that? Or do you go into the

legacy era, way in the future, with a descendant

of Skywalker? Like, I think his name is Cade,

I think. I've got the first book somewhere. The

Sith have come back. and you know it's basically

it's star wars far future quote unquote or do

you do something like knights of the old republic

as i said it five thousand years before shit

happened so i don't know where he's gonna go

i think the direction that they want to go uh

especially from some of the ramblings between

uh or or speaking of from uh lucas with uh Carrie

Fisher and Mark Hamill. Some of the rumblings

going around is that they're going to do seven

and they're going to have it take place many,

many years later. Picking up with Han, Leia and

Luke while they're training Luke and Leia's kids

is I guess the direction they want to go with

like a female Jedi daughter of Han and Leia.

Yeah, and I think that's supposed to be Jenna

Jason and Anakin in the expanded universe. Those

are the three kids that they do end up having

Yeah, and I think that the the the way that they

want to go with it is that And I've heard also

rumblings about them killing off solo pop is

there you know possibly in this film and Kind

of having Luke kind of staying with it for a

little bit. So it's possible we might get more

of that and But I hope that JJ can manage to,

I mean, he's, with Star Trek, he's shown that

he can do character, you know, kind of giving

more flesh to the characters than what we got

in 20 years of history, almost. See, one of the

things that I'm kind of worried about, I think

this movie's about 10 years too late. Maybe even

15. I think the time to do episode seven. would

have been in the 90s. And the only reason I say

that is because Mark Hamill was still dashing

enough to do his own physical work. Harrison

Ford was still doing movies like Air Force One

and stuff like that and K -19 Widowmaker. And

I'm trying to think of what else. Don't know

whether Carrie Fisher was in a good place in

the 90s. So maybe she wouldn't necessarily have

have been involved I think the problem is I mean

isn't like Harrison pushing 70 or something.

He's in his 70s That's in fucking saying and

Mark Hamill's in his mid 60s And I think Carrie

Fisher is also in that realm and I don't know

I mean it's not that I don't want to see them

involved in the project Don't get me wrong at

all. I mean Luke, or sorry, Luke, Mark Hamill

can now pull off the Obi -Wan role, which, you

know, eventually he does in the books when he

establishes it with his Jedi praxum he establishes

on Yavin. So I'm okay with that, but just Luke

and, or sorry, with Han and Leia being so old,

I just don't see them being feisty, go -get -em

grandma and grand -pa fighting evil in the Millennium

Falcon. And depending on where they set these

new movies, Chewbacca's dead. He has a moon dropped

on him. You don't come back from that. So I mean,

it would be kind of kick ass if they had characters

like, say, Mara Jade, who becomes Luke's wife.

I think she's really. Yeah, yeah, she's younger

than Luke. She's fucking hot. She's she's a redhead.

And I don't know, just. But then again, given

what Abrams has done. I think he'll probably

take the established EU stuff and churn it his

own way, which will then establish a new line

of EU for Star Wars. And I think that's a good

thing and a bad thing, because good thing is

if you don't like a story that happened in the

EU, now it can be considered a what if. For the

bad thing, it kinda screws up over 20 years of

established history because a lot of the Expanded

Universe stuff came out of the West End Games

role -playing stuff and they just filled it in.

Lucas was like, yeah, sure, whatever, it works.

And only with major decisions did you ever have

to go to George himself to say, can I do this?

And he would say yes or no. So obviously, now

that Star Wars has been sold off to Disney...

That brings off something else. What's gonna

happen with that? So it's gonna be interesting

to see where this all goes Yeah, and again, I'm

not sure quite how I feel about it with I mean,

I love them both Obviously, I like Trek more

than I like Star Wars, but I like them in a different

kind of light So it's it's kind of a double -edged

sword there As far as I'm concerned with Abrams

doing both Just because I don't feel that they

should have their hands dipped in both pots.

Yeah I'm very much of the same way I mean with

Star Trek it fulfills a different need for me

in pop culture like it fulfilled the intellectual

but also the excitement and it basically it Got

me towards more realistic possibilities. I guess

as much as you can make people exploring space

realistic I just I got more in intellectually,

whereas Star Wars satisfied that adventure element.

I mean, they're dashing across the galaxy, hopping

on speeder bikes with lightsabers, and you know,

all sorts of crazy shit that we're used to seeing.

With Star Trek, across all the films, outside

of the newest Abrams one, the most exciting thing

that happened involving vehicles was where Picard

took that dune buggy in Nemesis. And, I don't

know, Star Trek did something different. I felt

it was more character driven, whereas Star Wars

was more about the journey, so to speak. I mean,

because when you think about it, how much did

you really know about Luke and Leia? You knew

what their basic goals were, but with Picard

and Riker, you had years to build upon the history.

or years to build upon Kirk and why does he do

this, why does he mourn at this particular moment,

et cetera, et cetera. And even with the new Star

Trek, you got enough character development that

you cared because seeing Kirk grow up in Iowa,

how he got into the fights in the bar, you really

got a chance to know who he was and how he was

very unsure of his ability to command, obviously

rising to the task, blah, blah, blah. So... I

don't know how I feel this is gonna go, but we

could debate Star Wars and Star Trek all day.

Yeah, we've done that before. Which is something

we should probably do at some point on this show.

Obviously that's in the back pocket for a show

if we ever truly get desperate for a topic. So

one of the other things that we've kind of realized

working here on Future Imperfect is, well, before

Abrams came along, Star Trek was, there's no

other way to put it, it was dead. Enterprise

ended back in 2004. There was a couple of comic

books, a couple of books coming out. Maybe a

few video games, but nothing to put it in the

public consciousness again There was no trick

on TV and the last couple years the last ten

years for sci -fi I think have been really good

especially when you look at the reboot of say

a Battlestar Galactica And the thing that's going

on right now blood and chrome which I haven't

had a chance to check out yet um But I started

talking with Steve over email over the last week

or so and we started discussing Well, what happened

to some of these other franchises because let's

look back to the 90s The 90s, there was so much

sci -fi on TV. You could not escape it. And now

it's just, what do we got left? We got Fringe,

or no, Fringe is done. What's left? Warehouse

13 is done. Eureka's done. It seems like people

have kind of gone the way of more or less the

stupid programming. Because, and I'm not trying

to say, you know, that people are stupid. If

you think I said that, then send me hate mail,

steveatgeekcastradio .com. But I feel like television

has gotten really dumb over the last ten years

because of reality TV shows. Not saying that

some of them aren't halfway decent, but most

of them are just batshit stupid. And they've

pretty much replaced any kind of written... sitcoms,

dramas, sci -fi, action, adventure, anything

that you can think of. It's pretty much just

replaced everything and I feel that sci -fi was

the most intellectual and something that you

kind of had to pay attention to. Yeah, it wasn't

TV you could watch and do the dishes at the same

time or do a crossword puzzle. You're right.

It's something you very much had to pay... attention

to, and you look at television in the 90s, for

example, The X -Files, let's talk about that,

and Chris Carter, when the show wasn't featuring

on the supernatural stuff, more the sci -fi,

government conspiracy type stuff, you had to

pay attention, because there were little hints

in every episode that involved the overarching

storyline of the conspiracy, impurity, control,

etc., etc., that tied in, and you could pick

up on it, and things that may happen in an inconsequential

episode may not pick up until much, much later.

Now, one show that has really caught on for sci

-fi that's really, I think, bringing the genre

back in a lot of ways is the reimagined Doctor

Who, and that started back in 2005. Which I have

to say to kind of butt in. I mean, I've never

seen it. I do have it on my Netflix queue, but

I just haven't had a chance to watch it. It's

one of those shows you got to pick the right

entry point or you're not going to get it at

all. Which is something that happened to me when

I started I started right from the very beginning

Now I liked Christopher Eccleston who plays the

ninth doctor big fan of his work loved him in

28 days later Loved him as Destro in GI Joe As

dumb as that role was, he was still fucking Destro.

And it's kind of grown on me through the David

Tennant years, the Matt Smith years, and who

knows what's going to happen after that, and

through all the various different companions.

If I had to say one episode for you, Steve, to

start with, start with an episode in season three

called Blink. Because it barely features the

Doctor in it at all. Okay gives this wild sense

of how strange the stories can be while completely

gripping you and It's one of those shows that

it's very episodic and the fact that you don't

necessarily need to see all of them To get what's

going on now that has changed the kind of later

years Especially in season six where they have

this overarching story of a character that's

known as River song or his eye -caller I hate

this fucking character in sci -fi. I I don't

like her. I've got my own reasons. Hell, we can

talk about that at some point. When you watch

some Doctor Who, we'll talk Doctor Who. Maybe

I'll bring Ryan over on this show, because I

know he's a big Whovian. But that's a show I'm

very glad has brought back a lot of people talking.

In fact, even Star Trek has crossed over with

Doctor Who in the last couple of years. Yeah,

in the comics. Yeah, and I never read them. I

want to so bad. I know there's a couple of trade

paperbacks. So maybe when I get paid next week,

I'll maybe order those off of Amazon or something.

So that's a show that's been very important for

sci -fi. But looking back to the 90s, like I

said, X -Files, another show that I always wanted

to get into but never did was something called

Farscape. Yeah, I've kind of caught bits and

pieces here and there, but I've never been quite

sure what the hell it's all about. I know it's

got Muppets. It's produced by the Jim Henson

Productions and Hallmark Entertainment. And I

know there was a huge box set that came out,

I think it was two years ago. Sounds about right.

And it was weird. It was produced by A &E, I

think. And it was the entire series on Blu -ray.

It was something like 200 bucks. But totally

friggin' worth it when you consider how expensive

Blu -rays are to begin with. um yeah that's all

i know it was about an astronaut who fell through

like a wormhole or something and he's lost halfway

across the galaxy and there was like a shit ton

of movies um involved in it and that kind of

brings me to the next show which i started getting

into in the last couple years um thanks to my

friend lorenzo it's re written by j michael stratton

Stravinsky that's it or something similar and

the guy who's wrote spider -man a bunch of other

cool crap actually wrote a textbook on film on

like how to write it and all this other crazy

stuff a series called Babylon 5 which is a story

about a space station in the middle of nowhere

where basically all these governments come together

and they have representatives there so all the

species can start working together um I remember

bits and pieces of that like I didn't really

watch it, but I caught a little bit of it here

or there and You had freaking Tron in there Bruce

box latener you had just a lot of really good

actresses. You had you had Star Trek crossover

people you had like Chekhov show up a couple

times. Yeah, Walter Cohen. You also had I remember

her name Pamela Tallman or still my something

that Pamela either way. She was a woman who played

Barbara in the remake of Night of the Living

Dead that came out in the 90s and she really

owned that role and I think she plays like a

Psycore officer and the thing about Babylon 5

that I liked is it could be it was like Star

Trek but more political and yet you could have

crazy adventures I mean in in the first couple

episodes there's this creature called the Soul

Hunter and he comes to Babylon 5 and there are

these creatures called the Mimbari. I'm fucking

terrified of this guy because he literally traps

your soul before you die and he's sent to watch

over it and yet in the middle of all this going

on they're talking about trade negotiations or

there's this other race that may be screwing

over these like other guys and there's always

something going on. It's and even though it's

confined to the space station most of the time

it's It's just, it's different, and very much

kind of set the precursor for what would follow

with like Deep Space Nine later on, but it also

had really cool characters. One of them I really

liked is the security officer, Garibaldi. There's

this other guy, he's a centaur named Londo, basically

the guy with the really weird hair. If you think

of Babylon 5, you think of this guy. and just

it was just really really well written and i

know there's a bunch of movies for it too there's

a spin -off series called crusader which i actually

started watching that first because it was on

before star trek voyager uh in the 90s on my

local television station and that's how i got

in to more sci -fi was you know because there

would always be these great blocks of programming

on in the afternoons And I know you mentioned

a show that had Kevin Sorbo in it. I can't remember

what it's called, though. It's Gene Roddenberry's

Andromeda. Now, what was the plot of that one?

It was... I'm trying to think. I haven't seen

it in years. I know it went from the year 2000

to 2005. It has to do with... It's set thousands

of years in the future. and revolves around some

kind of a commonwealth, kind of a monarchy, and

you have humankind, you have multiple galaxies,

you have, you know, the Milky Way, the Triangulum,

and the Andromeda, and it's just, it's kind of

like Star Trek in a sense, but it's almost...

It's it's almost a little bit more political.

It's you know, you've got different different

kind of events that go on You have an artificial

intelligence character on the ship as in the

ship's computer Kind of reminds you the holographic

doctor in a sense Because it's almost like the

ship is alive in a sense Think so and she was

in Jason X and that's where I know her from but

anyway continue but they have instead of like

warp drive they have slipstream and It's they're

faster than light kind of like Star Trek There

there's tons of solar systems. There's tons of

you know Political stuff between the the the

classic Commonwealth, you know, and them trying

to restore it and there being the new, it's kind

of like almost Star Wars meets Babylon 5 meets

Star Trek. See, it's a show I always wrote off

because it had Kevin Sorbo. Honestly, I thought

it was going to be like kind of shitty for what

I did see. But I feel that between that and Hercules,

those are the only two things that are worth

watching that he's in. So I I mean I would say

to give it a shot anyway But I I'm kind of trying

to think of why some of these old shows just

kind of you know You haven't had any kind of

revival. I mean, I know I mean maybe Andromeda

didn't have a huge following but You know, you

look at Babylon 5 you look at Battlestar Galactica

you look at There was I mean, shoot, I've even

heard rumblings of like an X -Files revival with

new people and so on. See, now that's shit I

can get behind. But it just depends on how they

want to kind of jump behind it. See, there were

a couple of shows that came out in the 90s, and

they were sci -fi, but they were very goofy,

light -hearted sci -fi with occasionally some

serious elements to it. uh quantum leap quantum

leap i was thinking more lex and cleopatra 25

25 which is okay i'll admit it's a stupid fucking

show but it has gina tories from firefly hell

there's something we can mention um i mean it's

got a long life on dvd but we'll talk about firefly

in just in just a moment um and it was just a

goofy show where she was the reincarnation of

literally cleopatra but she was like an idiot

and she fought with lasers and something and

it was it was a really weird show but it had

a really catchy theme song and it was just it

was hot chicks kicking ass against robots and

it was just it was a fun show for me and i just

remember that being on in the 90s once again

you could there i remember they would show andromeda

cleopatra lex and earth two in a block on my

local television stations You cannot get that.

Even the sci -fi channel, you can't get that.

Which is depressing. Even in Canada, the space

channel doesn't have all that much solid blocks

of super program that isn't like Star Trek or

whatever. And obviously the big pink elephant

in the room, which I just mentioned, Firefly.

Why Fox canceled that is beyond me. And then

you look how successful Serenity was in terms

of at least it made its budget back and it's

had a huge following over the years. And I guess

it suffers from anything Josh Whedon does outside

of movies now seems to get canceled in some capacity.

And that kind of brings me to other sci -fi that's

been canceled over the years. One of my shows

I wish that had never ended or at least ended

on a much better note. I'm probably going to

get some hate mail for this, so feedback at ThisWeekendGeek

.net or Mike at ThisWeekendGeek .net. Terminator,

the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Fantastic show.

There were even moments when I was genuinely

moved by it. And yet, two seasons and then out.

Or Dollhouse, two seasons, then out. Was that,

were those both on Fox? Yep. See Fox is notorious

for canceling stuff before it even really gets

its feet off the ground. Yeah I mean they got

those ones I remember they did space above and

beyond which was a show that came out in the

very I think around 97 98 I will remember If

you know like for instance Fox has had other

shows that they've canceled like the Sarah Connor

Chronicles was you know a surefire good show

Didn't they have dollhouse? Yeah at one point

yet It wasn't, I'm trying to think of some other

ones. They had Terra Nova, which was an interesting

concept, and that didn't last very long. Yep,

one season, which you can view that on Netflix

if you're so inclined. Yeah, I mean, it's sad

to see some of these shows just kind of go by

the wayside just because the stations, and that's

something with broadcasting companies in kind

of today's world, though. You look at all these

different stations, Fox, NBC, CBS, ABC, they

don't really give anything a chance. They give

it a couple episodes and then they kind of shit

can it or they give it a season and then it's

kind of left abruptly. Yeah, and it always comes

down to money, which is really unfortunate and

one of the things that I just kind of want to

mention I mean if we're talking about just sci

-fi television think about sci -fi cartoons As

well one of the most recent ones to get shit

canned was Tron uprising See that's just sad.

I like that show when I got to see it. I mean

granted it wasn't It was on what, Disney Channel?

Yep, or Disney XD or something. Yeah. See, the

problem with some of those things is, and I guess

this is getting again into the network thing,

if you're one of those people that don't have

those digital cable stations or can't afford

them, you're already screwing the show that you

might like. Yeah, because a lot of local networks,

or at least over -the -air broadcasters or regular...

just radio and tv stations they no longer have

a block of programming dedicated towards children

i mean i don't i don't even think fox has a saturday

morning anymore do they no um no but some of

the stations are starting to bring them back

to some capacity um like you look at nickelodeon

they've got you know turtles and they've got

some you know they're trying to revive some of

the old um 80s kind of vibe and then you've got

like the hub They're with Transformers, they

can G .I. Joe unfortunately, and then you look

at some of these other... There's not really

much of Saturday morning cartoons anymore and

that to me is just sad in general because now

that I have a son, I want him to grow up on some

of the stuff, even if it's a modern take of whatever

it is I grew up on, and it's just not there.

Yeah, I mean I don't understand why sci -fi sometimes

gets so hard to get behind because like I said

you look at the success of Battlestar Galactica

on multiple movies the series lasted four seasons

two spinoffs Caprica and Blood and Chrome You

look at Doctor Who do I even like look how much

that has invaded pop culture in the last fucking

seven years Well, honestly, in the last two to

three years, I mean, if you look at it really,

people have been paying more attention to that.

And I guess it even kind of goes with Star Trek,

too. I mean, you look at 2009, that's pretty

much about the turning point where sci -fi is

coming back into everyone's lives and into the

public, you know, pop culture, you know, just

in general. I mean, that's about the time that

everything you had Doctor Who, Star Trek, you

know Star Wars kind of has been kind of off and

on again but yeah I mean you've got the Clone

Wars computer animated series which you should

all check out it looks it's fucking awesome yeah

that's really the only thing keeping Star Wars

alive right now is that cartoon and honestly

I mean it's in my opinion I think it's kind of

better than the films but Just because the writing

and you get a variety of characters in a lot

longer time to yeah, you get more time to Develop

it. I mean one show that I I don't know how to

how to frame this correctly Because I like the

show and I don't like the show at the same time.

Can you guess where I'm going? Um, maybe it's

a sitcom And it really brought us and geek culture

and nerds right into the forefront right now.

And that's the Big Bang Theory. Oh, yes. Now,

when the Big Bang Theory really hit a big, I

mean, yeah, nerd culture was still popular. I

mean, we still had Spider -Man in theaters. We

had Iron Man. We had, you know, the superhero

movies were still really hot. Nerd culture was

starting to be really, really bankable. And I

think they're in like their sixth season now

or fifth or sixth season. I think it's six. Yeah.

And just look at how much people emulate or talk

about nerd culture now. And it surprises me that

this is not filtering more into the networks

now I don't know this person because I don't

watch a lot of TV I watch a lot of Netflix or

stuff that I know I want to watch like say Walking

Dead Is revolution still on it is the unfortunate

part is I mean for one that let me get into a

little bit of background on that It's created

by Eric Kripke. Oh the guy behind supernatural

Yeah, and after he left his kind of showrunner

of Supernatural, I mean, he's still on there

as a producer, but he's not really there from

day to day. He went over and created Revolution

with the director of the first two Iron Man films

and J .J. Abrams. The only problem with this

show I can see, and it's a good show, the thing

is Abrams in a lot of his TV since Lost seems

to drag out. the seasons So they take seemingly

forever like Alcatraz. I thought that was gonna

be a great show and it was Until they wouldn't

get to the damn point and that's kind of a thing

with Eric Kripke too because supernatural is

doing the same thing Which again that kind of

neither here nor there but with revolution I

feel like it's gonna get cancelled only because

they stopped airing it in mid -november For the

Christmas break and it's not coming back until

the end of March. Oh So the mid to end of March

so I feel that's that that's too that's way too

long it should be a month max and You know, even

if you're gonna take a week off here or there

it needs to be consistent So I feel like that

show is gonna die fairly quick when it comes

back because it's been out of the limelight for

about five months Yeah, and that's really unfortunate.

I thought that was a really cool idea for a show.

Like you said, they got Kripke and Favreau involved

in it. So I don't know. I mean, I want sci -fi

to come back on television and really hardcore.

I would love for us to have on television, even

if even if it's on a premium channel, I want

the equivalent of a Breaking Bad or Walking Dead

or Sons of Anarchy. Basically, I want an AMC

sci -fi series. that is critically acclaimed,

has people on the edge of their seat every week,

and has people coming back. I mean, when Walking

Dead leaves for X amount of months, we're all

upset, but we're okay with it, because we know

it's gonna be awesome when it comes back. For

example, Breaking Bad, there's only four episodes

left, maybe five, I think, when it comes back

next July. They aired four episodes last season.

And the rest will be concluded this year. And

I know it's a really small number. I'm probably

getting that number slightly wrong. But I want

sci -fi to have something like that. I mean,

engage me somehow. I mean, there's so many cool

properties that could be adapted to sci -fi and

just really kind of get it going. I mean, if

we're not going to get a Star Trek on television,

which I know they're really hesitant to do it

now because of the JJ film. Well, and not even

just that. I think that Paramount and CBS don't

want to do it on TV because not only they changed

Abrams, but I feel like they Don't want to do

it because enterprise kind of flopped out towards

the end Yeah, and I like there's no reason for

people to be scared of that now. I mean that

was like that was 2005 when the show got cancelled

and It's it's I think that it's come full circle

at this point. I think people are ready for it

again. I think that Now would be the time to

do it and I think that instead of having all

these network shows launching I think they need

to create a new sci -fi channel and I think that

it needs to feature all of these shows You know

to some capacity having them as reruns But they

also need to recreate some of these for the modern

times with brand new storytelling and Have some

new original shows. Yeah, like I would love to

see a rebooted Babylon 5 or a continuation of

what happened afterwards or You know, maybe like

you said redo the X files another show that I

loved I don't know if you call it sci -fi but

it had sci -fi elements to it was the lone gunman

Fantastic show died way before its time And yeah,

just reboot some of these things or do what Netflix

is doing They're financing Arrested Development

Season 4. There's a new series right now called

House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. He can't be

cheap. So there's gotta be like there's money

there. There are intelligent writers out there.

There are like like fuck man like Star Trek.

Look at the history. Look how many episodes one

major awards are critically acclaimed for one

reason or another. There's no reason why we can't

have something really awesome. and have it be

respected. And if it has to go via premium channel

or whatever, I think people are willing to pay

it. I mean, especially with the way content delivery

is going now, with it being more digital more

so than any other time that I can think of. It's

about time. It's about time that you know we

take the risk or give people the money Like I

know there's a bunch of fan projects going on

now like Star Trek renegades got funded There's

Star Trek of gods and men that got funded a couple

years ago like there's my in Well, yeah, and

the same thing is it's the actors from the shows

that are reviving it because there's not gonna

be a Station that wants to pick it up Yeah, which

is sad and unfortunate because the fans and the

actors really want to be in their their franchises

again Yeah, I mean it's not them saying oh, I

want another shot at glory No, they believe in

what they're doing now I'm sure there's probably

one or two that are doing it for the money, but

I think I Think because we are riding this super

high wave of nerd popularity right now. Now is

the time. See how well Star Trek does. Star Trek

in the darkness. The last one made like half

a billion dollars so I think it did okay. Star

Trek 2 I imagine is going to do better. the new

Star Wars movie. I mean, I didn't expect them

to do a third trilogy. I think, nope, they're

done. We're going to get Clone Wars. We might

get a standalone movie if we're lucky. And I

did hear about them wanting to do it. And I heard,

you know, rumors all over the place. But then

I kind of chalked it up as, ah, that's just fanboy

rumors. And then lo and behold, there we are.

You know, it was again, it's a welcome addition

to the fandoms and everything but I just hope

that they do it right yeah and I think that's

the big thing that I want to that we really want

to impart from this conversation we've got we're

in the right position the time is right right

now but if it's not good it's not going to last

so hopefully we should see something good on

television I'm hoping soon because I haven't

I mean the only thing I'm really look looking

forward to the JJ Abrams shield show huh I don't

know when that's coming off the top of my head

now you know what would make a really awesome

sci -fi comic booky show that could work on network

television what Judge Dredd that actually I really

love that new movie so honestly that would be

very very very cool put that on HBO Because then

you can get away with whatever violence you want

you can put whatever sex and whatever and language

There you go, or if the rebooted RoboCop takes

off Why not? Yeah, there was a RoboCop series

in the 90s, and I thought it was okay kind of

retarded at times But I thought it was alright.

You know I mean there's so much possibility and

Fuck you old white men in charge Honestly, I

think there needs to be a geek uprising Yeah,

I mean we virtually rule comic -con. I mean we

rule network toes I mean one of the most popular

shows is Big Bang Theory I think we need to have

a geek uprising at the conventions at every comic

-con until we get our voices heard and I think

that there needs to be to some capacity a geek

network Run by actual geeks, not asshats. Yeah,

I mean honestly put someone like Will Wheaton

in there. I'm serious, but Will Wheaton, Felicia

Day, Nathan Fillion, Josh Wheaton. People that

are genuinely involved, they're for the fans,

they're for themselves, I mean that's obvious,

but you know they they love what they do. Yeah,

I mean that's what you need. Yeah, there's no

reason it could not succeed at attracting geek

sponsors. Not going to be hard. And then hire

you and me to end the rest of Twig and Geekcast

Radio. Yeah, there you go. We would run the online

component for it. And see, that's what because

there is so much social media involved. I wish

more people would take advantage to take the

Twitter and say, hey, you should do this. I mean,

obviously, it's a pipe dream. Could it happen?

Who knows? It's entirely possible. I just really

hope it happens. So I guess guys, I really hope

you enjoyed this kind of new take off on Future

Imperfect. I know we didn't talk a whole lot

of Trek on this one, but like I said, I'm very

much taking inspiration from the talking Trek

ladies where we, you know, you can tie anything

you can into Star Trek and you know, it works.

So Steve, what do we want to talk about next

time? I know we wanted to talk about the animated

series and that's only one season. Could we do

that in about two weeks? The animated series?

Yeah. I don't see why not. Okay, on next show

we will be talking about the long -awaited animated

series. episodes. We hope you guys have enjoyed

this. Once again, call our voicemail line 817

-717 -72002. Just mention you're leaving the

voicemail for Future Imperfect. Or feedback at

thisweekengeek .net, subject line Future Imperfect.

So for This Week in Geek's Future Imperfect,

we have been... Steve Megatron Phillips. And

I've been Mike the Birdman Dodd saying, Live

Long and prosper.